Harnessing Data and AI for Health Integrity: Introducing the Global Corruption in Health Atlas

Corruption in the health sector isn’t just a financial drain; it’s a direct threat to human lives and well-being. When resources are siphoned off, individuals are denied essential healthcare, public trust evaporates, and progress towards Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and Sustainable Development Goal 3 is severely undermined. An estimated US$560 billion annually is lost due to corruption and fraud.  

For too long, those fighting this battle – anti-corruption advocates, civil society organisations (CSOs), journalists, and policymakers – have faced a critical obstacle: the difficulty in accessing timely, consolidated information on where and how corruption manifests within complex health systems. Without this clear view, crafting effective, evidence-based strategies is like navigating in the dark. 

Introducing the Global Corruption in Health Atlas: A New Lens on Health Integrity 

To address this vital information gap, Transparency International Global Health is launching the Global Corruption in Health Atlas. This publicly accessible online platform serves as a dynamic resource, designed to help users rapidly identify emerging corruption trends and patterns within the health sector worldwide. 

Developed as part of a project commissioned by GIZ, with financial support from the Federal Republic of Germany, the Atlas aggregates global news articles reporting on health sector corruption.  

In partnership with the news collation service Newscatcher, our team has defined specific corruption typologies (like bribery, procurement fraud, embezzlement) and health system areas (such as financing, service delivery, medicines) to systematically categorise this incoming information. 

The Power of AI in Mapping Corruption 

At the heart of the Atlas is a custom-built Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool, leveraging open-source large language models. This technology automates the crucial but time-consuming task of: 

1. Reading and understanding vast numbers of news articles. 

1. Assigning articles to relevant corruption and health categories. 

1. Identifying key themes and keywords. 

1. Tagging the corresponding country or region. 

This AI-driven approach allows for efficient processing of large datasets, enabling users to quickly filter and find information pertinent to their specific needs and geographical focus. 

Recognising the challenge of misinformation in the digital age, we’ve also integrated a filter designed to identify and flag potentially unreliable news sources based on indicators often associated with disinformation such as newly registered domains. Users can choose to screen out these flagged articles for a more focused analysis. 

Initial Insights: What the Data Suggests 

The Atlas currently houses over 17,000 articles (from 2023 onwards) and is continuously updated. Early analysis reveals telling patterns: 

• Misappropriation: This appears as a dominant theme in media reports globally, frequently linked to Health Financing (over 4400 related articles) and Service Delivery (over 3500 related articles). The United States currently shows the highest volume of reported incidents in this category. 

• Bribery & Fraud: These are also significant issues, often intersecting with Service Delivery (bribery mentioned in over 2600 service-related articles) and Health Financing (fraud mentioned in over 3200 financing-related articles). 

• High-Risk Areas: Reports frequently link integrity issues to critical health system functions like Financing, Service Delivery, and Procurement, highlighting these as potential hotspots requiring heightened vigilance.

We encourage users to explore the Atlas to identify specific trends relevant to their region or area of focus, pinpointing potential high-risk intersections between corruption types and health system components. 

From Data to Impact: Empowering Targeted Action 

The Atlas is more than a data repository; it’s designed to catalyse informed action: 

• For CSOs & Advocates: Need evidence of procurement fraud in Country Y impacting hospital supplies? Filter the Atlas by “Country Y,” “Fraud,” and “Procurement.” This delivers recent media reports, strengthening advocacy, informing community monitoring, or providing preliminary data for requesting formal investigations. Repeated mentions of specific facilities can flag urgent priorities. 

• For Journalists: Investigating inflated medicine costs? Filter by “Medicines” and “Fraud” or “Misappropriation” across regions to uncover potential cross-border patterns. Tracking the frequency of reports on “Bribery” in “Service Delivery” can reveal systemic issues ripe for in-depth investigation. 

• For Researchers & Policymakers: The Atlas enables analysis of how corruption occurs and where it hits hardest. For instance, observing a high correlation between “Bribery” and “Service Delivery” reports in a specific region could be a powerful signal for local policymakers. 

• Beyond Health: AI as a Force Multiplier for Anti-Corruption 

The methodology underpinning the Atlas – using AI to collate, categorise, and analyse vast amounts of publicly available information (like news reports) – holds immense potential for application across various sectors vulnerable to corruption, beyond Global Health. 

By adapting similar AI-driven tools, anti-corruption bodies, CSOs, and governments can potentially: 

• Detect emerging corruption risks earlier. 

• Identify systemic patterns that isolated reports might miss. 

• Develop more targeted and evidence-based anti-corruption strategies. 

• Allocate investigative and preventative resources more effectively. 

This approach transforms reactive responses into proactive monitoring and prevention, offering a scalable way to enhance transparency and accountability across the public sphere. 

Explore the Atlas, Drive the Change 

The Global Corruption in Health Atlas provides essential insights needed to move from awareness to action in the health sector. Simultaneously, it showcases the transformative potential of harnessing data and AI for wider anti-corruption efforts. 

We invite policymakers, advocates, journalists, researchers, and all committed to integrity to explore the Global Corruption in Health Atlas at https://atlas.ti-health.org/. Utilise its data, understand its potential, and join us in building healthier, more transparent systems for all. 

By Yi Kang Choo FRSA, Project Manager, Transparency International Defence & Security and Global Health